Pinyin Today
 

          In January 1979 the People's Republic of China adopted a phonetic alphabet to facilitate the spelling of Chinese names and places in English and all other languages using the standard Roman alphabet.  This system is called Pinyin.  

          The list below shows the spellings of names and places in both Pinyin and the former Wade-Giles (traditional, which our textbook authors use frequently) spelling for most of the commonly used terms:

PLACE NAMES
PINYIN TRADITIONAL
Anhui Anhhwei
Beijing Peking
Chang Jiang Yangtze River
Chongqing Chungking
Fujian Fukien
Fuzhou Foochow
Guangdong Kwantung
Guangxi Kwangsi
Guangzhou Canton
Guizhou Kweichow
Hankou Hankow
Huang He River Hwang Ho River
Hubei Hopeh
Jiangsu Kiangsu
Jiaozhou Bay Kiaochow Bay
Jilin Kirin
Liaodong Liaotung
Nanjing Nanking
Shaanxi Shansi
Shandong Shantung
Shenyang Mukden
Sichuan Szechwan
Tianjin Tientsin
Xi River Hsi River
Xinjiang Sinkiang
Xi'an Sian

PEOPLE
PINYIN TRADITIONAL
Deng Xiaoping Teng Hsiao-p'ing
Jiang Jing Chiang Ching
Laozi Lao-tzu
Li Bo Li Po
Mao Zedong Mao Tse-tung
Shihuangdi Shih-Huang Ti
Zhou Enlai Chou En-lai

DYNASTIES
PINYIN TRADITIONAL
Qin Ch'in
Qing Ch'ing
Song Sung
Tang T'ang
Zhou Chou

 


SOURCE: World Regional Studies: China (3rd. edition) by Michael & Hyman Kublin.  Houghton Mifflin Co, 1991, p. xii.